When Ubisoft revealed Starlink: Battle for Atlas, it was evident the company wanted to cash in on the toys-to-life video game craze, much like Activision originally did with Skylanders. Unfortunately, though, the game hasn't performed quite as well as the team behind it had hoped.

In a production update on the Starlink webpage, it's been revealed "sales for Starlink: Battle for Atlas fell below expectations", and as such, the company has decided not to release any additional physical toys for the Spring update or in the future.

Despite the immense and continuous support from our players, the sales for Starlink: Battle for Atlas fell below expectations. Consequently, we recently made the decision to not release any additional physical toys for the Spring update and in the future.

In saying this, the company is still working hard to "do right" by its passionate community on the digital front:

As part of our effort to do right by our passionate and dedicated community we are currently hard at work on our biggest update to the game so far and are pleased to tell all of you that there will be new digital ships, pilots and weapons to collect.

Additionally, there will be a ton of free content to expand your games such as additional missions, challenges and new activities to engage in throughout Atlas, including content that was inspired by community suggestions, such as Outlaw Racing.

The next update for Starlink launches in April and will also include Switch-exclusive Star Fox missions, allowing players to take control of Peppy, Falco and Slippy as they engage in aerial dogfights against Star Wolf's lieutenants.

Are you at all surprised Ubisoft won't be releasing any additional physical toys for future updates? Did you purchase any Starlink toys yourself? Tell us down below.

When he’s not paying off a loan to Tom Nook, Liam likes to report on the latest Nintendo news and admire his library of video games. His favourite Nintendo character used to be a guitar-playing dog, but nowadays he prefers to hang out with Judd the cat.

I like the game but this isn't surprising... I think an online mode could have gone a long way... Something like Destiny in ships with Co op, daily bounties or missions, and maybe limited PVP. As is, once you've beaten the story and seen all the planets, there is a feeling of "what's the point?"

Inevitable and predictable.Toys-to-Life is a dying concept for one, simple reason: Cost.And for all parties involved. Production costs, store shelf costs, purchasing costs.

A friend in retail told me, that the single biggest issue with Starlink was its size. Be it the physical "Starter Box" or individual ships, it took way too much shelf space, especially for the amount they actually sold (which was barely any...)

Plus, a product that requires previous research about what you're actually getting with each package has a rough standing already. Even on the digital storefront, there are discrepancies. The German storefront failed to list "Complete Edition" components clearly advertised in other regions, even though it did, in fact, contain these items.

Speaking of the eShop, the "incompatibility" between the physical toys and the digital DLC variants was already confusing enough.

Starlink might be a great game, but it's marketing was a complete disaster on all fronts.

Very very happy to hear of the continued updates as this game is definitely worthy of your (additional) time. I just reeeaaallly hope they “fix” the controls. I don’t like the fact I can’t boost and maneuver around at the same time. As it is now, it’s either boost or move the right analog stick with my right thumb; can’t do two things with one thumb, Ubisoft!

Really enjoying this game and I can’t wait to see the rest of the updates!

While not perfect, this game has been really cool and has meant something to me. I’m disappointed that it didn’t sell as well as it did. Despite buying the full digital collection, I wanted and still want the toys so bad, but I’m just afraid they’ll take up space after awhile.

I do hope there has been enough support to see a sequel or successor in the future, even without the toys.

I really enjoyed this game, but the whole toys thing kept me away from it until the big sale. If they had skipped the toys and used the Digital Deluxe as the base $60 game instead they could have had a real winner. Not even the full Deluxe, just the full core team of pilots/ships. The pilots you meet later could have been drip fed to people as DLC every couple of months or something and things would have been much better.

I'm still hoping to eventually see a toyless sequel, and I think Ubisoft could make a really good full fledged Star Fox game if given the chance. Starlink honestly felt close enough to being a proper Star Fox game for me to consider it an adopted member of the Star Fox family.

Like they knew that the T.T.L. market was stagnating and yet they charge consumers over $70 for a game in a completely new I.P./series. In addition, the lack of hype and advertisement certainly didn't do it favors either. And yet, this is their response to the game not selling well? They were willing to take this kind of risk with the toys and not even own up to its commercial disappointment?

This may be a dumb idea but can they at least take what they learned from this game and give it a second chance with a sequel with an adjusted approach to the Toys-To-Life market rather than just abandoning one of the key features that set it apart?

I bought the starter kit and then everything digitally after that. I didn’t want to have to juggle a ton of figurines and have them collect dust. It’s a shame this game was affiliated with the dead toys-to-life fad. I think it may have performed better if people didn’t associate it with a bunch of figurines, even though they weren’t required to play.

Just like Battle Royale today, Toys-to-life was a huge trend during the early 2010s with the Skylanders, Disney Infinity, and Lego Dimensions franchises. Then Nintendo came out with amiibo and drove the craze into full force. So I imagine if Starlink came out during that time, when this trend was at its peak, it might have sold much better. But now, since the industry has moved away from the trend, it was just a huge risk that didn't pan out well. Sucks but that's how it goes.

I liked the digital version, got it 66% off
The toys approach feels like a barrier to what is a nice game, if somewhat repetitive
From time to time I receive a notification of a free trial of a ship that was actually included on the digital standard package
Anyway, looking foward to the April content update, my wingmate downed Wolf too fast 😢

Maybe I’m just cynical after buying so much into Disney Infinity before it spontaneously had its plug pulled, but I’m not surprised. The Toys To Life bubble burst a few years ago, and Amiibo only live on because they’re used generally rather than for one specific game (and even then, they aren’t doing as well as they did a few years back). I was surprised Ubisoft even bothered to throw their hat in the ring after the dust has already started to settle... that being said, I got the deluxe digital version of this game and don’t regret it. It’s a little repetitive at times and, while the customizable figures are cool, I don’t think they’re worth their cost... but the game is still enjoyable and I’m glad more content is still coming. Still, this outcome doesn’t surprise me.

I have mixed feelings on Toys To Life anyways. On one hand, they’re such a money sink if you want full access to the content (having a deluxe digital option for this game was a great choice, though ultimately it likely further eroded potential toy sales, though maybe not enough to outweigh the number of players who only got it because of the deluxe digital version). On the other, it’s oddly satisfying to be able to hold your characters in your hand and keep them all on a shelf. I had a blast with Disney Infinity (having characters cross over was great and the Toybox mode was awesome), but Disney had a huge number of established characters to use while this... it was all original characters plus Star Fox in the Switch version. Skylanders pulled that off fine but that’s because they pioneered the fad. If anything I’m surprised how wel Starlink has done.

@jtmnm Eh. Starlink isn't really a Star Fox game. It’s a great game, but as a diehard Star Fox fan, it didn’t really scratch that itch. SF Zero, on the other hand, did. But it didn’t sell well because it was on the Wii U, it was arguably underdeveloped, and the control scheme was divisive.

But it’s actually because of those things that I still have some hope for the series, because I think it means that Nintendo knows that if they release another Star Fox game, it needs to be an actual Star Fox game and it needs to be really good.

I figured this would happen when Starlink released, the major toys-to-life titles (Disney infinity, Skylanders, LEGO Dimensions) all closed down, and then this Johnny-come-lately stumbles onto the scene, sorry to be so cynical (well, not really), but did anybody expect different results?

I ended up buying the standard digital edition from the e-shop when it was on sale for £21 and am yet to play it but am looking forward to doing so.

I would have bought a playable base version of this game for £40 -50 on release because I really liked the look of it but £70 for the standard edition from the eshop was taking the Miichael. I think a lot of people felt the same. The base playable version of a game shouldn't be any more than any similar game.

Hopefully nobody will try this kind of pricing model on release again.

Toys to Life is dead. Was in Smyths the other day and they’ve stopped carrying Amiibo while desperately trying to offload a load of old Lego Dimensions and Disney Infinity stuff.

So launching a new range, based on a new IP, and a space shooter (which are niche these days) was never going to end well.

While I suspect it did best on Switch and it gave Nintendo a nice little added extra in the middle of the Christmas sales season, it also seems Starfox isn’t that big a draw either. Quite the mishandled franchise.

Funny thing is, the game is very good and the Switch version is well done. Plus my 4-year-old loves the Arwing, might get some more ships when they get really cheap.

I guess the games development started out when toys to life was a big thing, sadly by the time they'd wrapped it was all over. I picked the game up when the digital bundle was on offer and for what it's worth I've really enjoyed it.

I wanted the game and not the toys, and i wanted it physical, I bought the starter pack for 25euro, and gave the toy to my son. Personally the game is good but its a cash grab.All these space shooter with different weapons and ships, and here You have to buy weapons and ships with real money!!This game could be much better and sold much more if there was more variation.

@jtmnm it's not really a Star Fox game and Zero was a bit rubbish with its convoluted control scheme so I wouldn't worry too much.

Seriously though who's sales expectations were higher for this game? Releasing a toys to life game years after every single one has died out due to a lack of interest and somehow Ubisoft think they can revive it with this? If Disney can't sell Star Wars toys, what chance did this have with it's only selling point being one version had a loose Star Fox connection. I think we all saw this coming and that it wouldn't sell well at all

The toys thing was risky. I haven't bought it for that reason (I don't normally buy digital). If they had released a more tipical game with Starfox on it and so, I'd have got it for sure. It looks pretty nice.

I would have bought the game and the entire set if only the bloody game itself were on the cartridge. That's a $300 lost sale from me (I'm only taking a stab at the cumulative cost of the game plus all the toys).

Ubisoft only have themselves to blame. The Switch version should have been the best selling version by a mile due to the presence of Star Fox.

The problem was their focus on the toys to life aspect, and the cost of their starter pack. Knowing Ubisoft, they likely had some unrealistic sales expectations as well. So I can't say I'm surprised, despite liking both the game and the spaceship figures myself.

I think if they dropped the toys to life part, and focused on what worked. They could've released a decent game at 40-50 pricetag to decent sales. Even as is, if they at least had a base game, without a ship, for cheaper. They could've done a bit better.

Toys to life will come back as a trend at some point. Probably that will be when 5G makes Internet Of Things a reality.

I think UBI got things a little backwards. They thought toys would sell the game. It has to be the game that sells the toys. A game has to be really fantastic to persuade people to buy things associated with the game. And while it won a few fans who hard love it, it seems most people found Starlink a fun game but not a fantastic one.

You can only merchandise a game if the game is 9/10 or 10/10 for enough reviewers and enough gamers.

This game was by far one of the biggest surprises for me (positively). I couldn't put it down once I started playing. I do agree that after you finish the main story line, the game feels a bit pointless though.

@Dman10It's a much more cost-effective gamble than Starlink, with an entirely different set of success criteria.

But even then, LABO might only be "still around" because the VR kit contains the last of the products revealed in the original trailer. There might not be anymore after that one, if it doesn't take off well enough. There might not be even if it does.

Not surprising. TTL has simmered out; like I've said before, the whole reason amiibos have survived is because they were physical data keys applicable to a vast library of titles in a number of ways; even if a lot of those ways boiled down to daily procedural gifts with eventually negligible loot, even to the MTX-accustomed market it always sounded like a better deal than a "physical DLC" container with one unit for one game only. And it's still a shame that the latter couldn't go without taking entire games with other distinct merits to its grave, like the wondrous virtual toybox/sandbox of Disney Infinity. Granted, that one may have partly fallen prey to Disney's generally gloomy fatalism about their game publishing prospects at the time.

In any case, DI's fate fills me with yet more appreciation about Starlink not sharing the same fate and actually continuing to get new content digitally - a practice long and well within Ubisoft's comfort zone to begin with. It, too, is a game that ends up having more and bigger merits than the TTL component.

@SmagTheSmugg "but not the ridiculous success the shareholders expect as the only result worth their investments and the developer's time" - FTFY.

I bought the starter pack after the first drop in price ,never touched the toys after 5min (and never play with them attached to the controller), finished the game and a good bunch of its completion content (removed completely the alien menace from all planets) and exchange it at game.uk for 5£ less than I bought it (at first they did not want to receive it but I had check online). In the end I felt the game too short (I did all that in under 25h) and while I had some fun in the end it was more of the same and while it would be good to check the extra content I can live without it

It isn’t a Star Fox game though, and the Switch sold best from what I understand. If anything it shows how badly Ubisoft botched the release of this game with unnecessary toys and one of the most confusing marketing campaigns I’ve ever witnessed. Its no wonder it failed. A shame since I’ve heard its pretty good.

Not surprising, I'm just waiting for this latest Star Fox update before shelving the game. It has an alright premise but the release structure sucked and the focus on boring generic Ubisoft characters really wears the game down.

This should've been a Beyond Good and Evil spin-off, with no lame selling strategy for different ships/characters.

I am by no means surprised by this. The simple fact is that the Toys-to-Life industry is dead. It may have been a better concept than that of the Hyperscan, which used cards, but having to use toys to play a game was just stupid in the end.

That digital deluxe version of the game killed physical toy sales. It was so undeniably cheaper than purchasing the game and the character and ship packs. It’s one of the most baffling business choices I’ve ever seen any company make. It’s a shame that there will be no more ships made because they all look pretty nice and I loved the on-the-fly parts-swapping. I guess this news also confirms that Startail will never be released outside of Europe.

The game won’t release in Japan until the end of April but they’ve already given up on it. It’s ridiculous. Anyway I don’t care about the physical toys but now I’m not sure I’ll but it.They just told Japanese gamers to just give up on the game before it’s even released. I guess some people will buy the digital version (just for Fox) and die hard fans will get the physical just for the Arwing but “normal” gamers won’t buy the game knowing it’s already dead...

@TheDragonDAFan The digital deluxe was smart because it got rid of the biggest issue with these games, unending little pieces of plastic. I would have sunk more money into Disney Infinity except for the fact I couldn't digitally purchase characters/playsets. I simply didn't want a drawer full of plastic crap that served no real purpose.

I've enjoyed Starlink greatly since I picked it up digitally during the sale. It isn't a bad game, but I think having the physical toys tied to it hurt the game. I also think having Switch exclusive content (both characters and DLC campaigns) probably is hurting sales on other consoles.

Can't believe it hearing it by myself because i hate Ubisoft, but this game is awesome. I bought it when the price dropped and after a few hours, I fell in love. I even purchased every other ship and weapon to show them support.

@Darknyht But the digital deluxe version of the game also only cost about $5 more than the standard physical and digital editions, meaning that if you purchased the physical copies of this game, you were screwed. Plus, people like me, who actually wanted the toys of the ships, pilots, and weapons, would have to shell out even more money just to get them. The pricing of this game and its extra content was an utter disaster. That digital deluxe edition was priced so horribly in comparison to the content it provided that I guarantee it was one of the main reasons the toys shelfwarmed.

@TheDragonDAFan What can I say other than you have to pay more when they put unneeded pieces of plastic in a box for you that cost money to manufacture. There is an inherent cost to that feature and it would be wrong to force that pricing onto some who is essentially leasing a product (because that is what any digital purchase in essence is).

@jtmnm@MoonKnight7 Releasing it on XBox and PS4 with the toy sets is likely the biggest disappointment. Didn't Switch sales far surpass them? Thought there was an article about that. Either way, from Ubisoft's perspective this was a huge undertaking with all the physical sales and initiatives and pushing for shelf space.

As for Star Fox, the brand did its job and boosted interest in a palpable way from what I could gather.

My son really enjoys the game, it had some key things working right and some others not so much. It does remind me of Zero in that way besides everything else being totally different.

So, I worry a bit, too, but from Nintendo's point of view the hope is that it looks like the Star Fox brand still attracts people. It was a good A/B test. With Star Fox, decent numbers, without? complete bomb.

I bought the Switch started park around Christmas time when it was a mere £20; just to get the Arwing. I’ve yet to open it up as I’ve still been unable to deduce if you can use the cart version the game and purchase all the other ships, weapons and pilots digitally so i don’t need to be more of the toys. Or if I have to go purely digital for that option. If so I guess I will have to wait for a big sale for the digital deluxe edition.

I agree. Xbox and PS4 were the biggest disappointments I'm sure, and I do recall an article somewhere stating that the Switch version sold the best; that absolutely had to do with Star Fox being included. I'm really not that worried about the Star Fox franchise cause this disappointed, there were plenty of other factors as to why this game flopped. If anything is gonna defund the franchise it'll be more releases like Star Fox Zero.

I called this when the game announcement dropped, that Ubisoft was making a huge mistake doing a toys-to-life game about 3-5 years too late. I knew it was going to tank, Star Fox or not. Even worse, their pricing was nonsensical and all over the place. For me, I was interested until I saw that the game was $75 physically, and from what I understand it was a huge ripoff (correct me if I'm wrong though since you have it).

Honestly, I just kinda gave up and said I'd buy it cheap cause knew I wouldn't have to wait long. If gamers like us couldn't grasp what they were getting, how on earth was a parent or kid supposed to understand what they should buy? It's no wonder the game disappointed, it had one of the most confusing releases I've ever seen.

The game itself really is good...kind of a mix of Star Fox and the old Centurions cartoon from the 80's (yeah I know I'm dating myself right now). Toys to life aspect distracted too much from it, I guess.

@Hikingguy Now the Switch Starter Pack goes for about $25 (I bought mine on Ebay last week for $20 and a month ago Newegg had it on sale for $15). Funny enough though, $75 is about the price ($80) of the Digital Deluxe Edition on the store. It comes with almost all the current ships (doesn't have the Gamestop and Target exclusive though) and almost all the current characters (with the exception of Startail, who was a European preorder exclusive that has yet to officially be released in the states). Plus just a few months ago they had the Digital Deluxe Edition on sale for $40.

@maruse I wouldn't say they've 'told Japanese gamers to give up on it', I think it's more that they're focusing their money and efforts into the game itself rather than the physical toys. Like beyond the Starfox stuff and free content releases coming up, they also have various other pilots already unofficially shown (in the game's research pilot level requirements) to be coming out. Like to me this seems like it's them setting their priorities straight and focusing on the content, rather than trying to make physical toys as well that will most likely just be flipped and resold online for cheaper.

Let's be honest, the arwing toy was so cool when I bought it but the fact that it doesn't always stay registered is annoying! So I had to pull them out of the box I put them in and then rescan them. But on top of that I bought the physical edition but the full digital version was pretty much the same price with all of the ships. And then they act like "Oh im suprised no one bought the toys" lol. They are the reason for this game being a failure, because it is a very solid game.

@Roanark I was looking at Best Buy. I also saw it was on sale a few weeks ago. And I think it is on sale right now, but not the discounts you are talking about. But I remember when it came out, I was super confused. Because they wanted me to spend something like $75 for the starter and then buy more. I thought no way. Usually it is the other way around. If you buy the physical you have the full game and then the digital is piece by piece. They really botched this up.

@Roanark Maybe, and I understand their decision, but Japan is a difficult market. Here, people want their games physical.

People who only buy digital are still the minority so scrapping the main selling point of the game and announcing it before the game gets released here is not a good message for the market.

Some people will still buy the game for the Arwing model but that’s it.I see the (physical) game selling just a little on Switch and nothing at all on the other platforms.

I will end up buying the digital version but probably not until it gets a substantial discount.

I have a couple of questions about the physical version: Does it comes with the full game in the cart?If I decide to buy the physical version (which comes with less weapons than the digital) can I finish (and enjoy) the game without any problems? I’m just interested in the Star Fox content and will play only with Fox but I’ve heard that you need some specific weapons, that don’t come with the physical version, to defeat some enemies. Is that true?

It's unfortunate that this game sold poorly, especially on PS4 & XB1. (Confession, I bought the PS4 version because I wanted the better graphics, and after the last 20 years, Star Fox is dead to me). In some ways, it was built like a standard Ubisoft open world game, but it still was an effort to do something different. Meanwhile, everyone rushed out and bought the 20th in a series FPS they claim they're sick of instead. So, more Far Cry and Tom Clansy to infinity!

Fantastic game marred by confusing marketing. When I bought the digital deluxe on sale I didn’t know if my experience of the gameplay will be impacted without he toys aspect. Needless to say I was proven wrong, luckily it turned out one of the best games I have on the Switch.

So as someone who brought the physical version, how do I access the the new digital content. I only played the Fox ship as I couldn’t figure out how to access the digital ship when the Fox’s ship got destroyed. So do I have to buy it again but digital?

In terms of physical, the "Starter Pack" versions (like the Arwing one for Switch or the Zenith ones for PS4/XB1, and not to be confused with "Starship Packs" that only have the toys ) come with the full game itself (unless the seller specifies that there's no game included) but the only ships and stuff you'll get are the physical ones included in that specific starter pack. As for digital; the Digital and the Digital Deluxe Edition come with the full game along with various current DLC things (or most all the current DLC in the case of Deluxe Edition), while the DLC Collection 1 pack and the individual DLC is just the DLC stuff only (for like if you already own the game and just want the stuff).

"If I decide to buy the physical version (which comes with less weapons than the digital) can I finish (and enjoy) the game without any problems? "

Depends on what you consider finishing the game. Like there are some puzzles that you won't be able to finish cause it requires a specific weapon elements, but you will be able to finish the game and do most of the stuff (so basically you won't be able to 100% everything so to speak). As for enjoying, I've had fun so far with only the Fox, the Arwing, and the Ice and Fire weapons (I only payed $20 for it on Ebay and really wanted it for the Arwing toy/statue, so my expectations for it are more grounded than say if I payed it's launch $75 price for the starter edition). You level up your character, ship, weapons, and can mod your equipment with drops as well as upgrade outposts and your like hub ship thing (not the one you fly around in but the one where the ships are supposed to be stationed at and where your team operate out of). Plus they have free events where you get temporary access to a character, weapon, and ship to play around with (possibly go and do the puzzles that require that weapon element) and level up for a few days (current one going on atm is Judge, his ship Neptune, and the Levitator weapon from April 5 - April 8). The levels you get carry over if you ever decide to buy that character/weapon/ship.

"I’m just interested in the Star Fox content and will play only with Fox but I’ve heard that you need some specific weapons, that don’t come with the physical version, to defeat some enemies. Is that true?"

It's not that you can't beat them, it's just that there's type advantages to certain enemies. Like you can still damage them, that's no problem. It's just your weapons might not be super effective against certain enemies that are weak against say gravity or something else.

If you get the physical edition, just know that I've seen the Arwing Starter pack go for as low as $15 at Newegg (not including shipping if I remember right) a month ago, so between $15 to $25 seems like a reasonable price for it. As for if you decide to buy the digital stuff, I'm doing just what you're thinking of doing and holding off for discounts. Like they already had a 50% off of the Digital Deluxe ($80 normally, so $40 on sale) and Collection 1 pack ($60 normally, so $30 on sale) back in like December and I think January. So the next time they put Collection 1 on sale for that I think I'll pick it up then.

Quite a bit of misunderstanding and misinformation here. To clarify...if you buy the Switch physical Starter pack, it comes with Fox, Mason, the Arwing and the Freeze Missiles and Flamethrower weapons. But the Zenith ship and Shredder gun are included for free digitally also, along with free digital versions of the above toys. So you never have to use them. When you start a new game (or continue an existing one) just select the option to play digitally and you're good to go. If you download any other content digitally it'll also show up as unlocked permanently if you choose to play digitally.

If you go the physical toys route, you obviously have to scan them in on the controller mount, BUT once you've done that it unlocks a digital version of them for the next 7 days, so you could just scan them all in, immediately quit the game and then restart it and select the 'play digitally' option so you don't have to faff around scanning the toys in while you play it.

It's a lot easier in practice than I'm making it sound but Ubisoft have done a terrible job of explaining how it works and marketing it too.

The game should have just come out with all of the unlockable content, instead of being an overpriced dlc ridden F'heap. The toys should have just been marketed better so perhaps more kids want them. Back when some of us were young and the world wasn't as dead as it is now companies would spend money on TV shows to get more from its customers.

@MoonKnight7 It was expensive but it helped that I had a son who was very excited about it, including the toy aspect. He dug into the game and enjoys it. I would have felt ripped off otherwise — well, I don't mind the Arwing as a little collector's item...

It has some good ideas and many missteps. I'm not a fan of how it feels when flying, myself. If it had been a Star Fox collaboration with Nintendo from the beginning with a longer period of feedback from Nintendo I think many of the rough edges would have been smoothed over and it could have been much, much better.

Actually, I feel the same way about Star Fox Zero if the Wii U hadn't been tanking so hard that Switch got the fast track. I'm speculating, but Miyamoto and the team seemed to feel the need to have more games that justify the Wii U form factor before it was replaced — and that replacement came quicker than expected. (Even if it probably started as a game to help save the Wii U by proving its unique value).

I completely understand criticisms and that many could never enjoy Star Fox Zero, but my son and I had a blast with the wacky and weird trip through the many ways to control a flying vehicle. Bolster that with the ability to optionally have more standard controls and about twice the stages with much, much more eye candy and it could have been a great game, in my opinion. (That and the aiming reticles really, REALLY should have matched between both screens).

It's funny you mention Star Fox Zero on Wii U providing a unique experience, cause when the Wii U was announced, the first franchise I thought of working well with 2 screens was Star Fox. I was kinda amazed it took so long that it only graced the system so late in the Wii U cycle. I just imagine, other games got a higher priority, cause Star Fox is a pretty niche franchise. It was a cool idea, but I think the Wii U's two screens was a little too ambitious for what that game was trying to accomplish. It looked fine, just sparse and empty, it was probably too much for the Wii U to handle cause it had to draw two frames at a time. Neat idea, just tough to execute with what was under the Wii U's hood.

I wasn't knocking Ubisoft's game either, just their terrible, terrible marketing and confusing pricing. I hear the game is pretty decent, like what you're saying. I was interested, but was way too confused as to what I was getting and just said, forget it, I'll just wait until it's cheap.

I'm glad your son really enjoys it though. That makes it worth it, in and of itself.